The governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Godwin Emefiele, said on Tuesday that Nigerians would still deposit their old notes with the commercial banks after the February 10 deadline.
He stated this when he appeared before the house of representatives which summoned him over the confusion caused by the redesign of N200, N500 and N1, 000 naira notes and the attendant difficulty of swapping the old naira notes for the new ones.
Recall that the lawmakers had accused Emefiele of breaching section 20 of the CBN act.
According to the speaker of the house, Mr. Femi Gbajabiamila, the CBN Act mandates commercial banks to accept old notes.
“After the expiration date, such naira notes changed will no longer be legal tender but it also says that even five months, three months, or two months after, even in June, all the old notes presented to the bank shall be redeemed by the bank,” Gbajabiamila had said last week.
Addressing the lawmakers on Tuesday, Emefiele said he agreed with the provisions of the law in section 20(3) of the CBN Act which provides that commercial banks must accept old notes after a deadline.
The section states: “Notwithstanding Sub-sections (1) and (2) of this section, the Bank shall have power, if directed to do so by the President and after giving reasonable notice in that behalf, to call in any of its notes or coins on payment of the face value thereof and any note or coin with respect to which a notice has been given under this Sub-section, shall, on the expiration of the notice, cease to be legal tender, but, subject to section 22 of this Act, shall be redeemed by the Bank upon demand.”
He said: “The law which says even after the old currency has lost its legal tender status that we are mandated to collect this money. And I stand with the House of Reps on this. What does that mean? It could have lost its legal tender status which means we have moved on.
“But if you have your money that you have not been able to send to the bank we will certainly give you the opportunity to bring them back into the CBN to redeem it. Either you pay it to your bank account or you want to do an exchange—we will give you. You will not lose your money. This is the assurance I give to Nigerians.
Recall that Gbajabiamila had last week threatened to issue arrest warrant on the CBN governor should he fail to appear before the house today (Tuesday).
Consequently, the lawmakers deferred their plan to go on break for the presidential and national assembly elections, which was to commence last Thursday.
“I have no choice now. On Tuesday when we resume, we will invoke the provisions of Section 89 of the Constitution .The President has been very clear. The President gave the approval based on what he knows and what he has been told.
“We also know the President to be a man of the people. He gave his approval based on what he had been told. But we are saying – what the motion is saying – is that after the President gave his approval, how does the money get to the people? The money is not getting to the people. That is what we sought to clarify and that is exactly what we are going to do.
“So, on Tuesday (today), this House will follow its procedure – the normal procedure – and invoke the provisions of Section 89 to compel the governor of the CBN and the directors,” Gbajabiamila averred.
